Loki woke up feeling like he had after some of Tony's parties. He pulled himself together and somehow managed to cast a sobering spell. This is why I don't usually do such things! Still, finally getting some respect made me feel boisterous for once. Thankfully, he hadn't overindulged enough to make the rest of the night an irretrievable blur. He remembered Thor telling a few revised tales of quests. Loki, sensing the hall's patience was starting to get tested with the 'love Loki' theme, got Captain America to tell some tales. After that, everyone had become…mellow enough that people broke into smaller groups to speak, or in true Aesir fashion, make impulsive challenges or pass out. Thor had spent the whole evening beaming with the air of someone who had completed a job well. Loki remembered at one point giving his brother such a happy hug he had practically fallen into Thor's chair. Yes, he had definitely overindulged.

He rested and let himself bask in the feeling of being respected. He felt worry, though, that it was a one night only phenomenon. The only way to test that was to go out. Of course, this being Asgard after a banquet, he didn't see many people. Many were servants cleaning up various messes. Loki, feeling generous, sent out spells to help the servants he saw. Many of them were nonplussed but a few actually bowed in thanks and two even smiled at him. Loki gave those two slight smiles in response. Things weren't magically fixed between himself and Asgard, but it was a good start.

As he thought about this he remembered Thor's words about Frigga wanting to see him. He was no coward, so he decided to see if he could get that over with. First, though, he got some light food from the kitchens. Thus fortified, he went to her chambers and knocked. Getting leave to enter he found Frigga working at her loom. She looked up and gave a startled but happy smile.

"Loki! Thank you for coming," she greeted him.

He noticed she didn't call him 'son'. Was it because she didn't know if he wanted to be called that? Did his leaving cause her to cast him aside? He didn't know how to feel. He was angry with her for hiding the truth and not fighting harder to get him respect. She had, though, been a confidant when no one else, even Thor, had even been willing to listen.

"Please sit by me. Loki, last night showed me, and your father, how we didn't deal with you as we should have. We should have stepped in, done something, so you were not so alone or held in contempt," she apologized.

"Would it have been something that helped me to prosper or encouraged me to become a Thor clone," Loki asked her.

Frigga closed her eyes.

"We didn't mean for you to feel so different. It was why we didn't tell you the truth," she replied softly.

This made Loki angry. He paced to let off some of it and then sat back down so he could look her in the eyes.

"You, you of all people, knew how different I felt. You could have told me it wasn't my fault I couldn't be like Thor. Midgardians have an interesting knowledge of what makes up matter. They call it DNA, an acronym, for small bits of material which encode on the smallest level what attributes a person can have. I was a baby. I couldn't know how to make myself be as muscled and strong as father or Thor. The Norns know why I made myself have black hair! The point was, how could I be like Thor, even when I wanted to, when I didn't have the attributes for it? Instead, I had attributes Asgard scorned: intelligence and magic. Even as I saw the value in them I had to contend with everyone's doubts and my own lingering feelings that there was something wrong with me. I had to be proud for myself because I felt no one else was except for you. Being so proud kept me from depression, yes, but it also led to arrogance! It took seeing other people with clever minds and abilities I respect, people like Tony Stark and Natasha Romanov, to see I had unique talents but also equals. Without that balance only the Norns know what could have happened?! You should have done something. You should have told me."

"Loki, I made the same argument to your father but he also had a point when he feared you would think you were a monster. You are not, but we both worried that would happen," she told him.

"It did, but thankfully thinking about other realms made me wonder if thinking frost giants are monsters is only an Aesir point of view," Loki mused.

Frigga reached for him but then put her hands down. It was clear she still loved him and saw him as her son. That made Loki feel better, but he still had things he had to say before any type of healing could take place.

"You know magic has value. You know other realms don't view it as Asgard does. Why didn't you get the Allfather to let me go to Alfheim?"

"We worried that you would find out the truth and we wouldn't have been there to help you. We didn't want to tell the elves what we didn't want to tell you," she answered.

"That I am, biologically if nothing else, a monster."

"You are not a monster my son," she replied with gentle steel.

"Tony and I, on a particularly rough night, discussed something called nature versus nurture. It is a Midgardian theory which deals with what holds supremacy: your inner makeup or how you were raised. Was I an experiment to you? Leave him out."

"You were never an experiment. From the moment I looked into your eyes I loved you Loki. I could feel you were meant to be a part of our family," she said gently.

"Did you wonder why you had that feeling? Or was it merely because I was the abandoned runt the Allfather so generously rescued," Loki asked bitterly.

"I understand why you would wonder. At first it was because you were a child who was rescued, and I loved you, but as you and Thor grew older it became clear we needed you as much as you needed us. Thor has grown but he will always be impulsive and words not his strongest suit."

Loki let himself relax a bit.

"You must admit he did rather well last night," Loki interjected.

"He did and I was so proud of him. I was also proud of you for how you handled it. You stood with him as an equal. All I ever wanted was for my sons to stand together. I should have helped you to see being an advisor had as much value as being a king."

"You tried but it was hard to see when you were the only one," Loki murmured.

She tentatively held out a hand. Loki grasped it and spoke.

"I love you, mother, and I understand what you have said. Still, it will take some time for me to trust you as much as I once did."

"You have always been one to know that just rushing into something is not wise my son. I have always been proud of you for that Loki. Take the time you need and tell me what I can do to help," she replied.

"You have done a lot this morning mother and you aren't the one I mostly blame. A queen is subordinate to the king. You at least tried to get him to tell me, and encouraged me and listened to me."

"Will you talk with him," his mother asked.

Loki got up and paced again before he answered her.

"I don't know if I can. The things which make me angry also make me vulnerable. I don't know if I have enough trust that he will care enough to take me seriously. I feel like he might chide me with something like 'why do you always twist my words' and focus on defending himself versus listening to me."

"He loves you but he hasn't been the best at showing it," she commented.

"Thor said that as well. I also saw some indication of it when he supported my endorsement of my friends with Gungnir. I noticed, however, he didn't jump in to support Thor's defense of me."

"He wanted the court to choose to respect you rather than force them into it. Then it would be more real," she explained.

"That makes sense, but I can't think more about him right now."

Frigga squeezed his hand and spoke.

"As you wish my son. Loki, can you tell me how you found out? Thor said that you already knew part of it."

"I want a promise of no punishment first," Loki hedged.

"Given: you are well and nothing ill came of it."

"I needed to test my ability to hide from Heimdall's sight so I went to Jotunheim."

He paused to let her take that in. Her hand tightened in his and her eyes widened but she said nothing.

"I used a standard invisibility spell so no one would see me. I walked towards the temple and I felt…familiarity. Then I remembered a nightmare I had as a child and it all became somewhat clear. I went there to prove to myself I wasn't a coward. I did not expect to find something so personal."

"Oh, Loki, and then you felt you had to find out the truth alone because we hadn't told you," she observed sadly.

"I went down to the vault, temporarily displaced the spells surrounding the casket and touched it. The change I went through proved I had thought correctly," he concluded.

"Loki, can I hug you my son? You should not have had to find out that way. I am so sorry," his mother apologized.

He nodded and Frigga held him. He burrowed his head in her neck as he remembered how it had felt. He had been terrified and angry and wondering why. Only the knowledge he was leaving Asgard, and thus its feelings about the Jotun, had kept him sane. Otherwise doubt and loathing would have settled over him. As it was it took Tony, Pepper and Happy's support of him not being a monster to banish it entirely.

"My friends told me I wasn't a monster. Midgardians, or humans as they call themselves, looked beyond tales. I grant it was easier for them as none of them remember frost giants," he commented.

"The frost giants invaded- what is the human name for their realm, oh yes- 'Earth', fought fiercely and they left you Loki. None of those things make it easier to look past old memories and legends. Perhaps it is time we did."

"I do not know if I can. I had nightmares about them mother. Thor promised to kill them. I remember that the Allfather said nothing about how such a vow was wrong let alone that Thor's own brother was one," Loki said.

Frigga didn't try to defend Odin. She just kept hugging Loki. He hugged her back. His words about having to learn to trust her aside it was easy to trust her again. She cared about him and she listened. He pulled back from the hug and took in a deep breath.

"I had best make sure the others are well and then, once the palace pulls itself back together, the Allfather will want to discuss arrangements for the trial will he not," Loki asked.

"That is so. May all go well my son."

Loki smiled at her.

"I hope it shall mother."